CALL ROUTING BASED ON PHYSICAL LOCATION OF CALLED PARTY

• US 20080233969A1
• Filed: 03/23/2007
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Federal Network Systems LLC (Jacobs Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mergen, John-Francis
• Granted Patent: US 8,116,441 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/20 Manipulation of established connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 379/903 Password
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 379/913 Person locator or person-specific

Abstract

A system may include a locator device to track a location of a user, store information identifying locations of a group of telephone devices, and identify one telephone device of the group of telephone devices based on the location of the one telephone device and the location of the user in response to an incoming telephone call request for the user.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a locator device to;

track a location of a user,

store information identifying locations of a plurality of telephone devices, and

identify one telephone device of the plurality of telephone devices based on a location of the one telephone device and the location of the user in response to an incoming telephone call request for the user.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the locator device is further configured to:

store information identifying a ring signal for the user.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the locator devices is further configured to:

retrieve the information identifying the ring signal in response to the incoming call request for the user.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the locator device is further configured to:

transfer information identifying the one telephone and the information identifying the ring signal to a private branch exchange for routing the incoming telephone call request to the one telephone device and causing the one telephone device to ring based on the ring signal.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the locator device is further configured to:

transfer information identifying the one telephone to a private branch exchange for routing the incoming telephone call request to the one telephone device.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the private branch exchange is configured to:

route the incoming telephone call request to the one telephone device,

request, when a party answers the one telephone device, a code from the answering party,

receive the code from the one telephone device, and

establish a telephone call to the one telephone device when the code matches a code for the user.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein, when tracking the user, the locator device is configured to use one of radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking, global position satellite (GPS) tracking, beacon tracking, badge scanning, self-reporting, or biometric scanning.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the incoming telephone call request includes a user identifier that is associated with the user, and

wherein the locator device uses the user identifier to retrieve the location of the user.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the user identifier includes a virtual extension number.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the incoming telephone call request includes a user identifier that is associated with the user, and

wherein the locator device is associated with a computer-readable medium that associates the user identifier with a location of the user and a ring signal.

11. A method comprising:

receiving a user identifier that is associated with a user in connection with an incoming telephone call request;

retrieving information identifying a location of the user using the user identifier;

identifying information identifying a telephone device based on the information identifying a location of the user; and

forwarding the information identifying a telephone device to a private branch exchange for routing the incoming telephone call request to the telephone device.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the user identifier includes a virtual extension number.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

retrieving information identifying a manner in which the telephone device is to ring; and

forwarding the information identifying the manner in which the telephone device is to ring to the private branch exchange for causing the telephone device to ring according to the manner.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

tracking the location of the user; and

associating the tracked location with the user identifier in a memory.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the tracking includes performing at least one of radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking, global position satellite (GPS) tracking, beacon tracking, badge scanning, self-reporting, or biometric scanning.

16. A system comprising:

a locator device including;

a memory to;

associate a user identifier with a location of a user and a ring signal, and

associate information identifying a plurality of telephone devices with locations of the plurality of telephone devices; and

a processor to;

provide information relating to one telephone device of the plurality of telephone devices and the ring signal in response to receiving the user identifier; and

a private branch exchange to;

receive a telephone call request that is associated with the user identifier,

send the user identifier to the locator device,

receive the information relating to the one telephone device and the ring signal, and

route the telephone call request and information relating to the ring signal to the one telephone device to cause the one telephone device to ring based on the ring signal.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the processor is further configured to:

track the location of the user, and

store the location in the memory.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein, when tracking the location of the user, the processor is configured to:

perform at least one of radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking, global position satellite (GPS) tracking, beacon tracking, badge scanning, self-reporting, or biometric scanning.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the user identifier includes a virtual extension number.

20. The system of claim 16 wherein the private branch exchange is further configured to:

request, when a party answers the one telephone device, a code from the answering party,

receive the code from the one telephone device, and

establish a telephone call to the one telephone device when the code matches a code for the user.

21. The system of claim 16 wherein the private branch exchange routes the telephone call request and information relating to the ring signal to the one telephone device via a wired connection.